Establishing a standing committee on childhood obesity prevention at the Institute of Medicine

To address the need for authoritative, objective, research-based guidance, the Institute of Medicine will establish a standing committee on childhood obesity and its prevention. The purpose of the standing committee will be to provide timely expertise at the highest level to advise the direction of policy, practice and advocacy, and to guide research and evaluation in the most useful directions. The standing committee, working with the Foundation, co-funders and federal agencies, will choose up to five specific topics for publications over a four-year period. The publications are the deliverables. These publications will be funded by the Foundation; additional publications could result, depending on the interest of other possible co-funders and others interested in obesity prevention. Topics might include, for example, biennial updates on progress in preventing childhood obesity; the relationships among physical activity, diet and academic performance; addressing health disparities through obesity prevention; the marketing of food and beverages to children; and an evidence-based public health framework. To develop these publications, the standing committee will appoint ad hoc committees of experts for specific content. As is usual with Institute of Medicine panels, nominations will come from the standing committee, the Institute staff, RWJF and other funders, and stakeholders for obesity prevention at federal, state and local levels. The standing committee, along with Institute staff, will provide oversight and quality control for the resulting publications. This project will help to achieve several RWJF objectives: building the evidence base, developing credible advocacy and monitoring the national situation for childhood obesity prevention.